


No Time Is Truly Wasted

by HybridOwl



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Eye of Agamatto, Gen, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29945109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HybridOwl/pseuds/HybridOwl
Summary: Stephen readies himself for a conversation with the Time Stone. It doesn't go as expected.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	No Time Is Truly Wasted

**Author's Note:**

> Well Rue, I told you I would work on it.

Stephen was having trouble staying still. He kept moving from one book to the next, standing up from one chair only to walk over to another and sit down, picking up artifacts, fiddling with them, and putting them back down again when he realizes what he is doing. The cloak had given up entirely on staying with him as he moved, floating to the side and watching with confusion. Well, Stephen was fairly certain it was watching, and fairly certain it was confused. He would be, if he had been observing his own odd behavior. 

The Eye of Agamotto sat heavy on his chest.

But he had already decided, days and weeks ago, that this would be the day. He had plotted out the conversation in his head, every twist and turn it could possibly take. He had done the necessary research and spellwork to pull it off. He was as ready as he could possibly be; but still, he was nervous.

He hated being nervous.

The clock finally dinged the hour, 4 in the afternoon, 1600 hours, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2, a time whose roots have roots. Logical. 

He took a breath, steadying himself. And then he reached into the eye, simultaneously drawing on his own magic to draw the sigil he had had to make up for the occasion; the combination would have been too complex for even the best master sorcerer under normal circumstances, but he had an in, an edge on this front.

He closed his eyes, heard the ticking clock slow to a stop.

"Respectful greetings, oh Stone of Time. I seek your council and wisdom." Stephen said, not surprised that he had remembered the speech he had rehearsed so many times, but proud that his voice didn't waver. He knows if he missteps, the stone could drive him to madness, trap him in a time loop, whatever it wanted. He was submitting himself to it's mercy, for the answer to one simple question.

Maybe he was already mad for doing it. But he needed to know.

The voice, when it answered, was not what Stephen had expected. It had no gender to it's speech, no pitch, no rhythm. It was simply there in his mind as if it had always been there, and had never been.

_ Hello old friend. _ The voice said, somehow warm.

That made Stephen stop.

"I'm… sorry? We have never spoken before."

_ I have never spoken to anyone before, but I will speak to you again. It matters little to me. You are the only one in my entire existence who will ever hear me, but we will speak many times. That this is  _ **_your_ ** _ first time is of little consequence to me. _

"Oh." Said Stephen. What is he supposed to say to that? With a few sentences in less than a moment the time stone had destroyed his carefully laid out plans. He floundered, hating his usually dependable brain for failing him.

The voice gave the impression of laughter, a memory and a premonition of amusement. 

_ I believe you had something to ask me _ . It prodded, gently.

Stephen swallowed, swallowed again. He could not let his courage fail him.

"Will my hands- will my hands ever be healed?" He asks, and his voice is a whisper. It had not been something he dared to dream aloud for a long time. But in moments of weakness, of quiet, he stared down at his shaking hands and wished so hard that he was as he had been, that he had never been so very broken by his own hubris. 

He waited, for an eternity and no time at all.

_ There is nothing to fix, my friend _ . The voice said, and even though the words left Stephen's heart and hopes on the floor, the feeling in them was kind.

"But-" he starts, but his throat chokes on the words, the sorrow.

_ I know you feel their loss. _ The voice said.  _ Across time, you have felt and will feel that way again, and again. But to time, there has been no loss. Things are as they have always been. _

He didn't understand. He knew the stone could see that. He couldn't stop the feelings welling up inside him, even if he tried. The stone waited, patiently, oh so patiently, for the waves to pass, for him to feel them all and accept them. And then it spoke again.

_ You are, have been, and will evermore be Doctor Stephen Strange. The parts may change, but across the whole span of your time, you are the same person, and you want the same things, even if you do not always know it. _

"And what do I want?"

_ You want to help. _ The time stone says, like that's enough. And maybe it is. 

Stephen can feel himself starting to lose grip on the spell, can hear the tic of the clock starting slowly back up.

"Thank you." Stephen says. He might not understand, but he knows he has been granted a gift, this time outside of time, this knowledge beyond knowledge of himself.

_ I will hear from you again soon. Or perhaps not. It is hard to tell. But one day, we will speak again as before, old friend. _ The voice said, and Stephen nodded. He felt the spell lift, and opened his eyes.

Things felt different, now, like after returning from his parlay with Dormammu, or when he searched time for the one true future. But… peaceful.

The cloak glided over, settled on his shoulders. 

It curls it's corners in question, and Stephen smiled gently at it, felt his cheeks had been wet and dried again.

"Nothing. Just a visit with an old friend."


End file.
